Each re-do project has own problems

Contractor Scott Fish recommends a minimum budget of at least $25,000 if you want to tackle a project similar to Dan Gore and Mary Miller’s 1999 basement renovation. But, Fish cautions, each project is different and brings its own difficulties.

“It’s probably not the kind of thing you want to do if you want everything perfectly straight and level,” Fish says. “With these old houses, it’s a new challenge every step of the way.”

To keep costs down, Miller did most of the interior painting and Gore painted the new cement floor in the updated laundry room.

They also looked for ways to recycle materials.

Lumber salvaged from the original garage was planed and used to panel the finished basement area. Windows and doors that were removed from the basement were used to build a play house for the couple’s son.